


Dumpling Days

by xjEstelli



Category: Mulan (1998)
Genre: Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 16:56:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4843160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xjEstelli/pseuds/xjEstelli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mulan's days as a little dumpling who cannot, no matter how hard she tries, seem to fit in. Or stay still. Or shut up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dumpling Days

"Where is that insolent girl?" Fa Li sighed as she held a needle to a flame.

"She's in the field, trying to dig a hole to the other side of the world again," Grandmother Fa said, waddling to the doorway. "Mulan! Your mother wants to see you now!"

"Wait, I think I'm almost there!"

"Silly girl, as if she doesn't know the world is flat," Fa Li sighed again.

"Don't make me bring out the leather horse whip!"

"I'm coming!"

Mulan rushed in, but Grandmother Fa stopped her from getting far. "Maybe you should wash your feet first." She looked her up and down. "And the rest of yourself while you're at it."

When Mulan came back, her mother already had everything set up. Mulan stepped forward cautiously and her suspicions were confirmed when her mother said, "Come, Mulan, today we are finally piercing your ears."

Mulan was out the door for the second time in a heartbeat. "Wo bu yao!" she wailed from the courtyard.

Anger rose in Fa Li and she marched to the doorway. "Don't be nonsense," she scolded. "Come back here at once! We are getting this done and over with."

Mulan didn't listen and continued wailing like a dying panda. Fa Li made to go after her and Mulan, noticing this, scampered up a post and climbed onto the curved roof in a panic.

Fa Li's squinted eyes followed Mulan's flight. "Stupid girl!" she said at the bottom of the offended post. "Come down at once! You will hurt yourself."

A timid but firm "No!" followed her words.

Fa Li was beyond exasperated by this point. "You do not disobey your elders!" She turned to Grandmother Fa who had followed her out. "How dare she? No husband will want a horrible rebellious girl like this!"

"Give her time," Grandmother Fa said gently. "She will have to come down sooner or later. She will be an obedient daughter at some point. But as of the moment, you are giving yourself gray hair from all of this."

"This is silly," Fa Li continued. "What is she so afraid of? It's not like she will fall into a hundred's year sleep the moment she is pricked. That girl pricks her finger all the time when sewing and weaving. This is nothing. She is going to get tanned sitting on the roof for nothing. No husband will want a brown wife!"

"We have a long line of acupuncturists, but I suppose Mulan will not be one of them. Nor is she ready for marriage. Let's go in. She will come down sooner or later."

They went in with Fa Li still muttering about how she should have pierced Mulan's ears when she was still a baby to avoid this nonsense.

Mulan sat still on the roof, everything quiet except for her pounding heart. She indulged the high of victory and rebellion, but guilt gnawed at her at the same time. She felt bad. Not bad enough to come down and overcome her fear, but bad enough to know she would be extra-obedient when it came to everything else.

She also knew her grandmother was right. She would have to come down at some point and face her mother, but not now. Now she would stand the heat of the afternoon sun which would darken her skin to her displeasure. It was a good thing nine out of the ten suns had been shot down. She would not be roasted to death.

In fact, it was more like she would be bored to death. After cleaning the entire roof of dirt and debris, she sat down and glanced at the edge of the roof, which lifted her eyes to the sky. The sky was totally curved and the land was totally round. She hadn't even been able to finish digging her hole yet.

A bit of movement caused her to wake from her daydream and look down. A little lizard had fearlessly skittered up to her. She allowed the creature to crawl up her arm and around her shoulders before jumping off and scurrying away. She wasn't afraid of critters like the other girls in the main weaving house. When a large spider or rat invaded their space, all the girls would ditch their stools and run from it screaming. Older women would reach for the objects they usually used to beat the younger children with. Laughing, Mulan would capture the creature with a bowl and plate and release it outside.

Funny, how she could be so brave when it came to insects but turned into a complete coward when it came to needles.

Her gaze riveted to the sky once more and she watched the stars come out one by one. She had her eyes locked on them as long as possible. She had an uncanny fear that in hundreds or thousands of years time, the stars would no longer be visible where she lived. They would be concealed by some strange gray fog.

Mulan blinked down again and almost shrieked like a girl who had spotted a rat in the weaving house when she spotted her grandmother sitting beside her. She stared with wide eyes and Grandmother Fa smiled gleefully back.

"Nai Nai! But how…?"

Grandmother Fa silenced her with a wave of her hand. "You think you're the only one who can climb onto anything you please?"

"Then why didn't you follow me up just now?"

"Why, I had this to do first, of course." Grandmother Fa opened her palms to reveal two shiny earrings.

Mulan stared down, her fingers unconsciously reaching for her earlobes. "But I can't…"

"Don't be silly," Grandmother Fa said. "These are clip-ons. Now try them on."

Mulan carefully clipped on the strange contraptions. She turned to her grandmother when she was done. "How do I look?"

"Like a very brown bride. How do they feel?"

"Actually, they kind of pinch."

"They wouldn't pinch so much if you would just allow your mother to pierce your ears. She was planning to do it in your sleep."

"I think I will cover my ears in my sleep from now on."

"Don't be silly," Grandmother Fa said. "You have these. Now let's go in. Your mother has prepared bird's nest for you."

"Thank you, Nai Nai." Mulan gave her grandmother a big hug when other girls would have just smiled politely. "I have one question, though."

"Speak your mind, Mulan."

"How are we supposed to get down?"

**Author's Note:**

> Because you know how American kids try to dig to China? So obviously Chinese kids try to dig to - *shot*
> 
> Grandma and Mulan are way too ahead of their time.
> 
> This is to explain how Mulan took off those earrings like they were nothing, and how no soldiers questioned her pierced ears in the camp. She didn't have any, of course!
> 
> Plenty of thanks to user Marubien who helped point out inaccuracies that I gleefully ignored even though I am the one who is Chinese (dishonor! Dishonor on your whole family!). Everyone should just go to her to check their Mulan fanfics.
> 
> And as if that is not awesome enough, she made a little comic for this chapter. Username Ohanamaila on DeviantART, or hit up the link in my profile.


End file.
